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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
The NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is off to a good start with strong crowds the first two nights.
The NBA told LVSportsBiz.com that Friday was a sellout at 17,500, while Saturday’s games drew 17,103 fans.
Attendance for Sunday was announced at 13,621, according to the NBA. Monday’s attendance was announced by the NBA at 14,306. Tuesday saw attendance reported at 9,242.
In 2023, the July 7-17 summer league event at the UNLV campus drew 136,623 fans — trailing only the NBA Summer League of 2018 when 139,972 fans poured into the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion.
The Summer League in Las Vegas is like the Woodstock of pro hoops, with young and freshly-drafted players trying to get their careers off to good starts. The NBA also likes to use the summer league as a tech experiment platform to try new cameras and broadcast techniques.
On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will meet the media and chat. It’s highly inevitable that Silver will be asked about a new $76 billion media rights deal worked out by the association. Silver likes to call the Vegas Summer League the NBA’s 31st franchise.
And the topic of expansion typically surfaces when the NBA Summer League comes to Las Vegas, which has been mentioned as a candidate expansion market. Silver has said he wants the league’s media deal done before he dives into NBA expansion.
Arena builder Tim Leiweke of Oak View Group wants to build an NBA arena as part of a hotel-casino project at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road about three miles south of the Strip. Meanwhile, another developer, LVXP, also has proposed an NBA arena as part if a project at the former Wet ‘N’ Wild site on the north end of the Strip next to the Fountainebleau hotel-casino.
The NHL Vegas Golden Knights’ home arena, T-Mobile Arena, is also open to considering hosting an NBA team.
So, there’s no shortage of venues in Vegas that could host NBA games. T-Mobile Arena has already hosted the semifinals and final of the NBA’s in-season in December.